 Good evening aspirants. Welcome to the Hindi News Analysis by Shankar Ayes Academy. The list of articles which has been chosen for today's analysis along with the page numbers of Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Tiruvannandapuram Medicines are provided here. They are in for the handwritten notes and the time stamping for the displayed articles is provided in the description box below. And for the benefit of smartphone users, the time stamping is also provided in the comments section. Let us move on to our first article discussion. This article discussion is about oral cancer. The syllabus that can be linked to this article discussion is given here for your reference. The news article states that the rural district of Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh has recorded an alarming increase in cases of oral cancer over the last decade that is in the last 10 years. The intensity of the disease has increased in recent months and the frequency of oral cancer is higher among women than among men. The article also states that the dependence of a large proportion of a population on manual labour for livelihood is seen as a major factor that is contributing to the rising rates of oral cancer. And this Kuppam region is home to a large number of agricultural labourers. So, due to the hard manual labour, the vast groups of labourers are addicted to tobacco products and particularly the chewing of tobacco is very common. And this habit has resulted in developing of oral cancer. Hence, due to the high rates of cancers in the region, the district medical authorities have been holding medical and awareness camps in recent months also to tackle the problem of oral cancer. So, now what is this oral cancer? To understand oral cancer, you should first know what is cancer? We know that it is a deadly disease, but what is the actual definition of cancer? Cancer is a group of diseases that are characterized by uncontrolled cell division that leads to abnormal tissue growth. This uncontrolled cell division which leads to abnormal tissue growth is called as tumor. Many a times people often use these terms cancer and tumor synonymously and interchangeably, but all tumors are not cancerous. There are two main types of tumors. One is malignant tumor and other is benign tumors. Literally, if you see in English malignant means dangerous or harmful. So, malignant tumors are the cancerous cells that can invade and destroy surrounding healthy tissue including organs. The cancer can spread to distant parts of the body through the lymphatic system or bloodstream. Then the next type is the benign tumors. Literally, benign means harmless or non-malignant. These types of tumors do not grow uncontrollably or they do not invade neighboring tissues and they do not spread throughout the body also. That is why we are saying they are harmless. There are over 200 different known types of cancers that affect humans. Most of the cancers are named from where they start. For example, lung cancer starts in the lung and breast cancer starts in the breast. So, in the same way oral cancer is a type of mouth cancer where the cancerous tissues grows in the oral cavity and this oral or mouth cancer most commonly involves the tongue. It may also occur on the floor of the mouth, then on cheek lining, then on gingiva that is gums, then on lips also or palates that is the roof of the mouth. Actually, most oral cancers look very similar under the microscope and they are called as squamous cell carcinoma. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common type of mouth cancer and these squamous cells are found in many places around the body including the inside of the mouth and also under the skin. So, now what causes this mouth cancer or oral cancer? The two leading causes of mouth cancer are smoking cigarettes or other tobacco products such as pipe or cigars and also drinking too much alcohol. So, we can say the two leading causes are smoking and drinking and both of these substances are carcinogenic which means they contain chemicals that can damage the DNA in cells and can lead to cancer and the risk of mouth cancer increases significantly in a person who is both a heavy smoker and also a heavy drinker. Then the next cause is beetle nuts. Beetle nuts are mildly addictive seeds that are taken from the beetle palm tree and they are widely used in many Southeast Asian communities such as people of Indian and Sri Lankan origin. These beetle nuts have a stimulant effect which is similar to coffee and these beetle nuts also have a carcinogenic effect and this can increase the risk of mouth cancer. This risk of mouth cancer is made worse as many people enjoy chewing beetle nuts along with the tobacco and due to the tradition of using beetle nuts rates of mouth cancer are much higher in ethnic Indian and Sri Lankan community. The next cause is the smokeless tobacco. Smokeless tobacco is a general term used to refer to a range of products such as chewing tobacco or snuff that is the powdered tobacco which is designed to be snorted and then snuzz. This is a type of smokeless tobacco which is popular in Sweden. This is placed under the upper lip and it is gradually absorbed into the blood and as we saw earlier use of tobacco in any form will cause cancer especially mouth and lung cancer. The next cause is use of cannabis. Smoking cannabis has also been linked to an increased risk of mouth cancer. Regular cannabis smokers may have a higher risk than tobacco smokers because cannabis smoke contains higher levels of tar than tobacco smoke and tar is carcinogenic. The next cause is the human papilloma virus or HPV. The human papilloma virus is the name of a family of viruses that affect the skin and moist membranes that line your body such as those in your cervix, anus, mouth and throat. So infection with some types of HPV can cause abnormal tissue growth and other changes to the cells which can lead to the development of cancer. Then the final cause is having poor oral hygiene. There is evidence that poor oral hygiene such as having tooth decay, gum disease or not brushing your teeth regularly and having ill fitted dentures that is having false teeth can increase the risk of mouth cancer. So in this article we discussed about what is oral cancer, what is cancer and what are the causes of oral cancer. With this we have come to the end of this article discussion. This news article is about the important statements made by RBI in its annual report 2018-19 which was released recently. The syllabus for the analysis of this news article has been given here for your reference. This annual report is the report of the central board of directors on the working of Reserve Bank of India for the year that ended on June 30th, 2019. The report has been submitted to the central government in terms of Section 52 Clause 2 of the Reserve Bank of India Act of 1934. This news article talks about the animal spirits. See in economics this term animal spirits refer to the psychological and emotional urge of investors and consumers to get into more economic activities. This term animal spirits was coined by a famous economist John Maynard Keynes in his book The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Now the RBI annual report says what ails or what troubles the animal spirits in the economy. This means what makes the investors and consumers not to involve into more economic activities. The reason for this is the poor domestic demand that is people do not have money or they don't have the interest in purchasing goods and services. So why demand is important? If demand is not there then all the produced goods become wasted. All the money that went into the production of the goods is of no use. Then companies become bankrupt. There will be job losses because the companies will not be able to pay the salary to its employees. In such situations the investors will fear to invest because investment may not give any dividend or profit. All these things can happen just because of poor domestic demand. Here domestic demand means the demand for goods and services from our citizens and people within the country and the poor demand can be a heavy blow to the economy like a deep structural slowdown or a soft patch mutating into a cyclical downswing. Now soft patch in economic means a period of economic slowdown despite a larger trend of economic growth and downswing in economy refers to downward turn in the level of economic or business activity in the economy which is caused by the contraction of economic growth and contraction in demand and investment and when we say cyclical downswing this means one negative event affects another and thus there will be a chain of negative events and all these have a complex interrelation. Therefore when we say soft patch mutating into a cyclical downswing it means the economic slowdown is changing itself into a complex and a downward turn in the level of economic activity. As of now the RBI states that this poor domestic demand could be in the nature of a cyclical downswing rather than a deep structural slowdown because a deep structural slowdown is much worse than a cyclical downswing in terms of damage and momentum. So to address these changes in the economy on one hand we have to revive the domestic consumption demand and on the other hand there has to be enough private investments so that the production could meet the needs of revived demand and the central bank has said that these two measures will be of highest priority in 2019 to 20. So for investment to happen one way is to improve the ease of doing business that is why the news article mentions that the policy focus should remain on ease of doing business. Note that increasing the possibility of investments is also a measure of improving ease of doing business. This is because for a business to exist it requires investment. Now let us see the important sectors that may be affected by the complex cyclical downturn in economic activity. These sectors are manufacturing, trade, hotel sector, transport sector, communication and broadcasting, construction and also agriculture. So this means many sectors could be affected by the economic downswing that is why the article is saying that a broad based cyclical downturn is underway or it is in progress and we know that some of the above sectors such as hotels trade transport are part of services sector. The RBI says that the growth trend has witnessed slight moderation in a negative sense since 2016-17. This negative moderation is contributed mainly by the services sector and particularly by trade, hotels, transport, communication and broadcasting and financial, real estate and professional services also. So now let us see the sectors that face structural issues. These are land, labour, agricultural marketing and few other sectors. When we see structural issues this means that correction is required in certain structural parameters such as how prices are set, how public finance is conducted, what is the contribution of government owned enterprises in the problem facing sectors for example say agricultural marketing etc. The structural parameters also include financial sector regulation, labour market rules and regulations, the social safety net for labourers and the participating institutions in the concerned sectors. Therefore the RBI has called for structural and other reforms in the fields of factors of production that is in land and labour. We know that a company cannot work without land and human resources or the labourers. Also reforms are required to achieve faster implementation of capital expenditure by public authorities. Here capital expenditure could mean the expenditure for construction, renovation and major repairs of existing infrastructure. It also includes the purchase of heavy equipment, machineries or vehicles. This is also a part of the demand that is in some way assist the production units. Recently we saw that the finance minister has announced to revoke the ban on purchasing of vehicles for officials by the central government. This is to assist the struggling automobile industry. Then reforms are also required in labour laws and taxation. With respect to labour laws, recently the code on wages of 2019 has become an enforceable legislation. But the labour code on industrial relations, the code on social security and the code on occupational safety, health and working conditions which were formulated by the ministry of labour and employment has not yet become enforceable legislations. Then with respect to taxation, reforms and taxation could mean to reduce the tax in GST to incentivize the consumption demand. Because when there is more tax, then people are less likely to buy a product that is the more the tax the less the people think to buy a product. So, these are the areas of reforms which were suggested by the RBI to increase the demand and investments in the economy. The article then talks about the banking sector. It says that there is a decline in gross non-performing assets ratio for the scheduled commercial banks. It was earlier 11.2 percentage in 2018, but it has come down to 9.1 percentage in March 2019. This is a positive sign of improvement. This was achieved because of the recognition, repair and resolution in gross non-performing assets. Now the scheduled commercial banks are called so because these commercial banks are included in the second schedule of RBI Act of 1934. Then there was also a decline in new accumulation of non-performing assets in last year. This is what is mentioned in the news article as fresh slippages. Then the annual report of RBI also states that there is improvement in provision coverage ratio or PCR. PCR is the ratio of provisioning to gross non-performing assets and it indicates the extent of funds that a bank has kept aside to cover loan losses. Presently the provision coverage ratio has improved to 60.9 percent from around 50 percent which was the case till recently, but a safe level of PCR is around 70 percentage. So all the measures that we have discussed in this article that is about the policy focus on ease of doing business, increasing demand, increasing investments, structural issues, the reforms, the importance of banking sector, all these are important in guiding India in becoming a 5 trillion economy by 2024 to 25. With this we have come to the end of this article analysis. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the last session. Moving on to the next article discussion which is about GI tag. The syllabus that can be linked to this article discussion is given here for your reference. The news article states that the dindical lock and the kandanki sari have been given the geographical indication tag by the geographical indications registry. These two products are from the state of Tamil Nadu. The article also states that these two products are losing their sheen in the market. It means that the product is losing its shine in the market that is there is a decline in usage of these products. These two products are known for their peculiarities in the state of Tamil Nadu and also around the world. So it is expected that the GI tag will infuse fresh interest in these two products because GI tag would help them to get some recognition by which its performance in the market will automatically improve because when there is more demand the product will automatically shine in the market. So by this the life of the workers who are dependent on these products will be revived. So now let us see what is the specialty of these products. First one is the dindical locks. These locks are made in the dindical city of Tamil Nadu that is why it gets the name of dindical lock. The famous dindical locks are known throughout the world for their superior quality and durability. The locks are so famous that even the dindical city is called as lock city. The abundance of iron is the reason for the growth of lock making industry in this region. The dindical locks are handmade and each lock is unique in its design and system. So they do not make use of any machine made processes and each lock has a unique key code also. In the present day we know that many machine made locks are available but the government bodies like prisons, godowns, hospitals and even temples use these dindical locks. The lock industry in the dindical city is more than 100 years old and is spread over five villages in the district. It has evolved its own unique craftsmanship that is distinct from other lock making hubs. Some of the other lock making hubs in the country are Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and Dasnagar in West Bengal. So the granting of geographical indication tag will distinguish the work of dindical lock making craftsmen from any other lock manufacturers. The geographical indication will also serve to assure consumers of the authenticity and conformity of the product to the territorial area of dindical. So now let us see about the next product which was given the GI tag. It is the kandangi saree. The kandangi saree is manufactured in the Karekuri taluk of Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu. The kandangi sarees are cotton sarees that are hand woven. They are hand woven by traditionally skilled weavers of the Karekuri inhabitants and the sarees are known to be woven in the homes of the weavers. A typical kandangi saree is made of thick coarse cotton so it can withstand even the roughest washes. The weavers of the kandangi sarees use natural dyes. These dyes are generally extracted from vegetables and the dyes are in the colors of black, red and yellow. The uniqueness of the kandangi saree is that it carries the distinctive design of being checked or striped with vivid colors as you can see in this picture. Traditionally the kandangi sarees are made in the shades or hues of colors such as mustard color, earthy red color, orange color, brown color and chrome yellow color. These kandangi sarees are facing challenges that are similar to dindigal locks. This is because the market is flooded with sarees that are woven in other parts of the state and they look like the kandangi saree. So the granting of GI tag will help the original kandangi saree manufacturers to hold their uniqueness and it will also help to revive the demand of the sarees. So now let us revise about the GI tag and its importance which we discussed last month. Normally as humans we have a desire for quality and genuine premium products. These products have distinct characteristics and they originate from a particular region. These distinct characteristics were the identification for that particular product and these products became so important that those particular regions started specializing in producing these unique products. This led to the identification of such goods as originating from a particular region and over a period of time those products became renowned or famous globally for its distinct characteristics. So demand for such products started rising among the consumers. Now this demand gave rise for counterfeit or fake products. These fake products began to damage the image of genuine products. So the genuine products have to be protected by safeguarding the interest of the producers and the interest of consumers also. This protection led to the evolution and conceptualization of geographical indications. So geographical indications or GIs are a class of intellectual property which is used primarily to identify products as originating from a particular geographical area. The term geographical indications was first used in TRIPS agreement that is trade related aspects of intellectual property rights agreement. According to this TRIPS agreement geographical indications are indications which identify a good or product as originating in a territory of a country or a region or locality in that territory. Now in that the product should have a given quality reputation or other characteristic that is essentially attributable to its geographical origin. Then INGIA also enacted the Geographical Indications of Goods Registration and Protection Act of 1999. This act came into force with effect from 15 September 2003. The act is administered by the controller general of patents designs and trademarks who is the registrar of geographical indications. Now also remember the geographical indications registry is located at Chennai. Now if you see the objective of this act is threefold. Firstly it is the specific law governing the geographical indications of goods in the country which could adequately protect the interest of producers of such goods. Secondly it excludes unauthorized persons from misusing geographical indications and it protects consumers from deception or duplication. And thirdly it promotes goods bearing Indian geographical indications in the export market also. Now this act defines a geographical indication as an indication which identifies such goods as agricultural goods, natural goods or manufactured goods as originating or manufactured in the territory of a country or a region or locality in that country. Then such goods should have the given quality reputation or other characteristic which is essentially attributable to its geographical origin. Then in case where such goods are manufactured goods then one of the activities of either the production of the good or processing of the good or preparation of the good that is concerned should take place in that territory or in that region or in that locality. Now the goods not only include agricultural, natural or manufactured goods but also it includes any goods of handicraft or goods of industry and it also includes food stuff. So, now what is the benefit of registration of geographical indications? Now this registration confers legal protection to geographical indications in India. It prevents unauthorized use of a registered geographical indication by others. Then it provides legal protection to Indian geographical indications which in turn boost exports. Then it promotes economic prosperity of producers of those goods which is produced in a geographical territory. Now also remember that the registration of a geographical indication is valid for a period of 10 years only. After that it has to be renewed. Now some examples of this GI tags include Basmati rice, Darjeeling tea, Kanjipuram silk saree, Nagpur orange, Kolhapuri chappal, Bikaneri bhujia then Agra theta. With this we have come to the end of this article discussion. The practice question displayed here will be discussed in the last session. This news article is about foreign direct investment reforms. The syllabus for the analysis of this news article has been given here for your reference. The union cabinet has recently approved reforms in foreign direct investment norms in several sectors. When we say foreign direct investment or FDI, we mean investing in a country other than the investor's home country. It involves capital flowing from one country to another and foreigners having ownership or a say in business in which they have invested. The foreign investment is generally seen as a catalyst for economic growth and FDI can be undertaken by institutions, corporation and individuals. The recent changes in FDI policy liberalize FDI rules for four sectors. The recent changes are aimed at liberalizing and simplifying the FDI policy to provide ease of doing business in India. Thus it will make India more attractive destination for long-term overseas investors. Now this will lead to large FDI inflows and thereby contributing to the growth of investment, income and employment in the country. So now let us see the reforms one by one. Firstly the reforms eased the sourcing norms for single brand retail trade or SBIRT for companies that are looking to invest and open retail stores in India. Here the single brand retail trading refers to a business or franchisee that sells goods to individual customers and not to other businesses and all such goods are sold under the same brand. An example for SBIRT can be businesses like Adidas, Maruti etc. In the case of SBIRT the government has expanded the definition of mandatory 30% domestic sourcing norm. Currently the FDI policy provides that 30% of the value of goods has to be procured from India. If the SBIRT entity has FDI more than 51% but the recent change says that all procurement made from India by the SBIRT entity for that single brand shall be countered towards local sourcing irrespective of whether the goods procured are sold in India or whether they are exported. Until now the local sourcing was countered for its sales in India only. So now the change will allow companies to include not just locally sold goods but also exports as part of its sourcing. Then the reform also allows single brand retailers to commence e-commerce that is online operations before they set up physical stores. However a physical store will need to be opened in the next two years. This change is in line with the current shift of consumers in India to online market shopping. Now these changes may result in the foreign brands setting up more online and physical stores in India. So this will lead to the creation of jobs in logistics, digital payments, customer care etc. Next the second reform permits 100% FDI through automatic route in contract manufacturing. Under automatic route the foreign investor or the Indian company does not require any prior approval from the RBI or Government of India for investment in our country. In contract manufacturing the manufacturer enters into a contract with a firm to produce components or products for the manufacturer. It is a form of outsourcing. This is expected to boost the domestic manufacturing. This reform also permits large foreign electronics and pharmaceutical companies to invest in local contract manufacturers and this reform will also give a boost to the government's making India policy. Then the next reform is allowing 100% FDI in coal mining and all related processing activities through automatic route. Here by coal related processing activities we mean coal washery, coal crushing and coal separation etc. At present 100% FDI under automatic route is allowed in coal mining only for captive consumption in power projects iron and steel and cement units. Here by captive consumption we mean the consumption is allowed only internally and it is not allowed for sale. But by this reform this is extended to companies that are seeking to commercially sell and export coal also. This change is expected to end the monopoly that is enjoyed so far by coal in jail limited and this coal in jail limited is often considered as lacking the capability to mine the coal fields. The author says that this move is in line with the influx of capital and modern technology into mining and processing. So, this will also increase the domestic supply of coal which is a key raw material for power cement and steel production. Then this reform will also reduce the growing imports and finally the reform also approved FDI in digital media companies that upload and stream news and current affairs up to 26% with prior government permission. Now this change brings digital media on par with print media because currently 26% FDI is allowed in print media with government approval. So, now what are the reasons for these changes? The author says that the government is concerned about the ongoing economic slowdown and persistently weak investment activity. So, this move is to provide a fillip or boost to attract more foreign capital into sectors that the government sees as having a multiplier effect and this multiplier effect particularly in terms of job creation. Here multiplier effect means if we invest in one sector jobs will be created in the sectors that are associated with it. Now this move of government should be looked along with the RBA statement that was released earlier this month. RBA said that foreign flows into India had moderated or reduced to $6.8 billion in April, May 2019 from $7.9 billion. So, it is expected that the FDI reforms will increase the foreign inflows. Then one another reason for these reforms is that the Prime Minister of India has set a goal of ensuring India in becoming a $5 trillion economy within next five years. For this dream to come true, more investment, more demand and production and more employment and income generation is required and these things can be attained by more foreign direct investment inflows. Then the author also raises several concerns regarding this move. With respect to changes in coal mining sector, the author says that the reform appears as a win-win situation for both the economy and the coal industry. But the environmental cost that is associated with one of the most polluting fuel that is coal is neglected by this reform. So, the author feels that this goes against our commitment of shifting towards non-polluting renewable energy. Then the author says that large miners will need access to large contiguous coal fields and these coal fields should be with minimal bureaucratic constraints. This expectation should be met if India needs huge investment in coal sector. Further, the domestic thermal power plants are relying on coal imports for a long time. So, they are under financial stress because of these imports. So, the author concludes by saying that considering all these factors, how much additional investment may increase is quite uncertain or it is not known yet. With this, we have come to the end of this article discussion. This split practice question will be discussed in the last session. Now, this article can be discussed in light of the editorial that we just now discussed. This news article says that the company is operating the news portals expressed disappointment over government's new FDI policy because it is capping the investment in digital media at 26 percentage. They believe that this measure would impact both existing digital platforms as well as new platforms. Now, this move is considered as a departure from the existing policy. At present, only the print media and news broadcasting companies in India have FDA gaps. That is, they have maximum limit of investment. For print media, it is 26 percent and for news broadcasting companies, it is 49 percent. Then the news article says that some of the existing digital media have more than 26 percentage for an investment and certain companies are already operating with 50 percentage to 100 percentage FDI. So, now they will have to restructure. That is, they have to get rid of foreign shares and they have to change norms to include domestic investors and they have to look for Indian investors to comply with these norms. The news article says that the Indian investors are reluctant to invest in media portals, especially in the current economic slowdown because when there is an economic slowdown, there is a less availability of capital. So, this move to cap FDI will hurt digital media platforms when they plan to expand their operations and this move also discourages new projects. The article also cites that several digital media are calling this move as regressive and restrictive. With this, we have come to the end of this article discussion. This news article is about the recent report by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that is IPCC. The syllabus for the analysis of this news article has been given here for your reference. The article speaks about the draft report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that is IPCC of United Nations. This is a special report on oceans and earth's frozen zones, that is the cryosphere. The report warns about rising seas and storm surges. Here, storm surge means rising of the sea as a result of wind and atmospheric pressure changes that are associated with a storm. Also know that this report is not released yet, that is why it is called as the draft report. The report states that the 21st century is already facing challenges from carbon pollutions and global warming that are destabilizing earth's marine environment. So, the report notes that if this is not controlled, then we will have to face consequences. The same oceans that nourished human evolution will cause unseen misery on a global scale. The news article says that destructive changes are already visible and global warming is accelerating the melting of glaciers. This will first give too much and then too little to billions of people who depend on glaciers for fresh water. So, at first the melting glaciers will cause floods and then it will cause drought. The report says that the earth should witness a dramatic decline in fish stocks. There will be a 100-fold increase in the damages caused by superstorms. Here, superstorm is a destructive storm which is similar to hurricanes. The report also says that hundreds of millions of people will be displaced by rising sea level and there will also be a submergence of low-lying regions. The report stresses on the point that drastic reduction in man-made emissions is essential. Otherwise, this will lead to at least 30% of the northern hemisphere's surface permafrost melting and this melting will happen by the end of 21st century. Permafrost is defined as ground, soil or rock that remains at 0 degree Celsius or below 0 degree Celsius for at least two consecutive years. They are large carbon reservoirs as they store large amounts of carbon in their frozen framework. So, when they melt it would release billions of tons of carbon that are stored in it. So, this would accelerate global warming furthermore. One important point that we have to note about this report is that this report is the fourth in a series of UN reports in less than a year on the effects of climate change. The other reports focused on capping the rise in temperature compared to pre-industrial level and they focused on the state of biodiversity and they also focused on global food system. All these reports conclude that humanity must remodel the way it produces and consumes almost everything. Only this can avoid the ravages or devastation of climate change and environmental degradation. The draft report also warns that the effect of rising sea levels will be felt even with the most optimistic emission reduction scenarios. It says that by the year 2050 many low lying or coastal mega cities and small island nations will experience extreme sea level events every year. When we say mega cities we mean large cities with more than 10 million population. In addition to this the news article also says that even if the world manages to cap global warming at 2 degree Celsius by that time the global ocean water line will raise enough to displace more than 250 million people and this large-scale displacement could happen as early as 200. We will see more about rising sea level and about cryosphere when the report is actually released. With this we have come to the end of this article discussion. Moving on to the final article discussion for the day which is about the notes of currency in circulation. The syllabus relevant to the analysis of this news article is given here for your reference. The news article states that the volume of rupees 2000 notes have decreased in circulation. It has decreased from 3.3 percentage in 2018 to 3 percentage in 2019. Here volume just means the number of notes. The value is different from volume because say there were 2 notes of rupees 2000 then the volume is 2 whereas the value is 4000. In terms of value the proportion of rupees 2000 has decreased from 50.2 percent in 2017 to 37.3 percentage in 2018. This has further reduced to 31.2 percentage in 2019. Now let us come to rupees 500 note. The volume has increased from 5.9 percentage in 2017 to 15.1 percentage in 2018. Now this has further increased to 19.8 percentage in 2019. In terms of value of rupees 500 notes the value has increased from 22.5 percentage in 2017 to 42.9 percentage in 2018. This has further increased to 51 percentage in 2019. So as of now more than 50 percentage of the value of currency in circulation is in rupees 500 notes. The second highest value is in rupees 2000 notes. Together rupees 500 note and rupees 2000 note account for 82.2 percentage of the value of currency in circulation. Now also know that currency management is one of the important functions of RBI. The preamble of RBI Act of 1934 says that RBI was constituted to regulate the issue of bank notes then to keep the reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in India and also to operate the currency and the credit system of the country to the nation's advantage. So under the currency management function RBI is guided by the goal of ensuring adequate supply of clean bank notes of various denominations in the economy. Now let us see about the currency management infrastructure of RBI. The functions relating to the issuance of currency and their management are performed by Reserve Bank of India. This function is done through the issue offices, currency chests and small coin depots of RBI. These issue offices, currency chests and small coin depots are found in several places across the country. A currency chest is a place where the rupee notes and coins are stored and stocked. At the end of March 2019, the highest share of currency chests is with SBI. SBI has a tune of around 63 percent of currency chests. This is followed by the nationalized banks with around 31 percent. Now let us see the application used by RBI for currency management. RBI has been using integrated computerized currency operations and management system as its currency management solution. This application is used for inventory management, accounting of currency chest, transactions and currency management operations at its regional offices. But right now this system is being replaced by an improved currency management module. With the improved module, there will be an integration of currency management functions with Ecuber. Ecuber is the core banking solution platform of RBI. Ecuber provides the provision of a single current account for each bank across the country. It gives decentralized access to this account for the banks from any place for 24 into 7. This is done by using portal-based services in a safe manner. A core banking solution is special because it gives customer-centric services on a 24 into 7 basis from a single location and it supports both retail and corporate banking activities. The users or customers with respect to RBI could be other banks, state governments and central governments. Now let us see the series in which the new currency notes were launched in 2016. This series is called as the Mahatma Gandhi New Series. The new series highlights the cultural heritage and new scientific achievements of the country in comparison with the old series. The new series includes some of the recent achievements of India. For example, if you take the 2000 rupee note, one can find the motif or the decorative design of Mangalyan on the reverse side as shown in this picture. Mangalyan is India's first venture in interplanetary space and this has been highlighted in rupee notes also. The purpose of this is to reflect the Indian culture and scientific pride in currency notes that are used by citizens and others when they come to India. With this, we have come to the end of article discussion sessions. The displayed practice question will be discussed in the next session. Moving on to the last session for the day, that is the practice question discussion session. In this question, we have to choose the correct pairs. On one side, geographical indication has been given and on the other side, the state which has got the geographical indication for that product is given. In this first one is Bangla Rushgulla. We know that two states got geographical indication for Rushgulla. One is West Bengal and the other is Odisha. Here in these options, West Bengal is there. So, we can match Bangla Rushgulla with West Bengal. So, that means A should be matched with three. So, we can eliminate options A and options B. Now, in these C and D options, we can say that C is paired with one. That is Arakku Valley Arabika Coffee is paired with Andhra Pradesh. But remember that this Arakku Valley Arabika Coffee was given geographical indication tag for two states. One is Andhra Pradesh and other is Odisha. Now, based on today's discussion, you can easily say that Kandangi Seri can be matched with Tamil Nadu. That is B can be matched with four. So, that means D has to be matched with two. That is Moga Silk is with Assam. So, the final correct answer to this question is option C A3 B4 C1 D2. In this question, two statements have been given. We have to choose the correct statement. The first statement states, currency management is one of the important functions of RBI. We know that this is correct during our discussion and we also saw that the important functions of RBI include formulation and implementation of monetary policy and this has to be done with the objective of maintaining price stability and ensuring adequate flow of credit to productive sectors of the economy. And we also know that RBI is also called as issuer of currency and the management of currency is one of the core central banking functions of RBI and it derives this function from section 22 of RBI Act of 1934. The next statement states, E Kuber is the core banking solution of State Bank of India. This statement is wrong because E Kuber is not the core banking solution for SBI, but it is the core banking solution platform of RBI. This platform is a centralized system established by RBI which allows its customers to conduct their businesses irrespective of the branches or regional offices of RBI. So, here statement one is the only correct statement. So, the correct final answer to this question is option A one only. Now, this next question is based on Mahatma Gandhi new series of bank notes. First statement states, bank notes under the Mahatma Gandhi new series were launched in 2015. Now, this statement is incorrect because the new series were launched after the demonetization and demonetization was implemented in the year 2016 and not in 2015. Therefore, the Mahatma Gandhi new series of currency notes were launched in 2016 only. So, the first statement is incorrect. The second statement states, Chandrayaan 1 of India is one of the motifs used in currency notes. Now, to answer this question you should definitely know whether Chandrayaan 1 is there or not. It is not used as a motif in the currency notes. So, this statement is wrong. During the analysis we saw that currency notes reflect the Indian pride by portraying the cultural heritage and scientific achievements of India. So, based on this the 500 rupee note has the motif of red foot and the rupee 20 note has the motif of Ellora caves and rupees 2000 note series highlights the Mongolian satellite. But so far Chandrayaan 1 has not been highlighted in any of the new note. Therefore, the second statement is wrong. Here both the statements are incorrect and the question asks for the correct statements. So, the final correct answer to this question is neither one nor two. This question is about provisioning coverage ratio. Four statements have been given and we have to choose the correct statement. During the analysis we saw about the provisioning coverage ratio when we saw the front page article with respect to the release of annual report of RBI. We saw PCR while we were discussing about the non-performing assets. PCR is the rate of provisioning to the gross non-performing assets and PCR indicates the amount of funds that a bank has to cover these NPAs which are the loan losses. So, the correct answer to this question is option C which states ratio of provisioning to gross non-performing assets and indicates the extent of funds a bank has kept aside to cover loan losses. The PCR is a kind of buffer against the losses caused by NPAs. But if you look at the option A, it talks about cash, gold reserves, the government approved securities. These are called as liquid assets. The Reserve Bank of India has mandated every bank to have a specified liquid reserve called the statutory liquidity ratio. So, option A deals with statutory liquidity ratio. It is therefore the ratio of liquid assets to the net demand and time liability. Also know that the statutory liquidity ratio or SLR today is 18.75 percentage. These liquid assets are maintained and are kept by the banks. Then if you look at the option B, it deals with cash reserve ratio. This means as of today the banks have to keep 4 percent of the total deposits of customers as cash reserves with the central bank that is RBI. Unlike SLR, these reserves are kept with RBI. SLR and CRR are required to prevent a bank in acting detrimental to the interests of the depositors. This is to ensure proper management of a banking company and also to secure monetary stability in the country. So, that is why the correct answer to this question is option C. Let us see one main question based on GS paper 3. The question is discuss the impact of relaxation of FDI norms on Indian economy and concerns associated with it. So, for answering this question, you have to first list all the reforms that we discussed today during our analysis. Like the first reform was easing the sourcing norms for single brand retail trade for companies that are looking to invest and open retail stores in India. And the second reform was 100 percent FDI through automatic route in contract manufacturing. And the next reform was allowing 100 percent FDI in coal mining and all related processing activities through automatic route. And then finally, FDI in digital media companies that upload and stream news and current affairs up to 26 percentage with prior government permission. So, while listing out all these four, you have to simultaneously mention the impacts which we discussed during the analysis. Then for the second part of the question which asks for concerns related to the FDI norms, you can use the same concerns which was discussed by the author of today's editorial. You can say that the changes in coal mining sector neglected the environmental cost that is associated with it because coal is one of the most polluting fuel. So, this will affect India's commitment of shifting towards non-polluting renewable energy. Then you can also say that if India needs huge investment in coal sector, then there should be minimal bureaucratic constraints. There should be comparatively less red tapism. Then you can also say that with respect to the digital medias, if there is a capping in investment, then it will discourage new projects and it will hurt the digital media platform when they plan to expand their operations. Like this, you can list out all the concerns which we discussed during our analysis and you can also add your own viewpoints. With this, we have come to the end of our today's sessions. If you like the video, don't forget to like, comment and share and do subscribe to Shankar IAS Academy YouTube channel for more updates on civil service examination preparation.